Re: [xtm-wg] XTM(P) Questions

[Murray Altheim <altheim@eng.sun.com>]

lacher@in.tum.de wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I am currently working on a representation of Topic Maps in RDF, such
> that RDF tools can be used for Topic Maps as well.
> After I went through the XTM and XTMP Specs I had a couple of
> questions:
[...]

I'm afraid that your RDF tools will fail. One of the things that hasn't
been loudly stated, nor sufficiently promoted, is the XTM Processing
Model. While RDF and XTM documents are XML documents, topic maps cannot 
be processed directly from XTM documents using a DOM-like model. There are
a number of fundamental processes that must occur before the "API" of
a topic map document can be exposed.

Steve Newcomb wrote a rather lengthy XTM Processing Model Specification
which was published December 4th, 2000 and announced in Washington at
XML 2000. This document was in "AG Review" state at that time, but has
yet to be approved by the AG:

   http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/xtmp1.html

This document has been in some limbo since then, and the TopicMaps.Org
Authoring Group talked about it recently in Austin at our last meeting. 
I understand that Sam Hunting, who has been working with Steve on it 
since December, is trying to revitalize energy within the community so
that I hope that we'll see publication of an update [somewhere] in the 
next few months. I know that Steve and Sam both want to see it published,
although I don't know if it will be via TopicMaps.Org.

The XTM Processing Model is an absolutely vital part of the topic map 
paradigm, not something to sweep under the carpet. The fact that your
questions exist should point out that these types of misunderstandings
should be addressed in a publicly available specification. RDF tools 
cannot directly process XTM documents, unless their developers create 
a "topic map layer" above the RDF layer that conforms to the processing
model required to turn XTM documents into topic map "graphs." I'm certain
that when the Processing Model for XTM is published, it will be announced
here even if it's not published here, so keep your eyes peeled or ears
tuned, or whatever...

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim                            <mailto:altheim&#x40;eng.sun.com>
XML Technology Center
Sun Microsystems, Inc., MS MPK17-102, 1601 Willow Rd., Menlo Park, CA 94025

      In the evening
      The rice leaves in the garden
      Rustle in the autumn wind
      That blows through my reed hut.  -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu

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